Richard Wyatt

Richard is a Chartered Accountant and has advised and worked in law firms for over 30 years.

He has been Finance Director and part of the senior management teams of three law firms, in addition to being a consultant, author and lecturer on law firm finance.  He has always been recognised as a “people person” and as a human in the – sometimes – inhuman world of accountancy!  He has been through three mergers, identified potential targets, undertaken financial due-diligence on target firms and provided data as requested to acquiring firms.  There is little that he has not seen.

Richard’s expertise is in targeted financial reporting and producing relevant KPIs to help department heads and managing partners understand how their teams can make more money and generate more cash.

In joining Baskerville Drummond, he is expanding their services to include part-time and interim FD services, perhaps to cover departures or provide extra resources, e.g. in merger situations.

He also leads strategy days for partner groups and advises firms on their overall strategic direction, especially in how to grow their client base, without incurring significant additional costs.

Having completed his ICAEW training in London, he joined Baker Tilly, (now RSM) and then moved out of London to join Grant Thornton in the Eastern region, eventually based in Cambridge.  In 2004, he joined Tollers, in Northamptonshire as Finance Director, where he worked with David Baskerville in updating the firm’s processes and accounting.

After leaving in 2011, he formed his own consultancy and advised firms on law firm finance.  During that time he built the claims processing model for one of the largest accident claims firms and a profitability and cash flow model for a portfolio debt collection business.  He lectured for the Law Society and many other organisations and co-wrote “Measuring and Reporting for Law Firm Success” published by ARK Group in conjunction with Managing Partner magazine.

In 2012, he was lured back into a FD role for Piper Smith Watton, an exceptional firm based in Westminster and applied his skills to resolve, property, succession and staff career development issues by engineering their merger into Blake Morgan, to become the core of that firm’s London office.

During the completion of that deal in 2015, he was head-hunted to become Finance Director of Greenwoods Solicitors LLP in Peterborough, which he held until he chose to leave and join Baskerville Drummond in 2019 and during which time he doubled profits and introduced a self-funding staff bonus scheme.

Richard is a member of the ICAEW’s Solicitor Community Advisory Group and continues to write on law firm financial issues.  He is a keen sportsman and plays, cricket, tennis and golf badly.